Jin fell back with an exhausted gust of air escaping her lips. She was at her limits and resting on the firm roll of fabric let her catch her breath. She had pulled in only a couple lungfuls of air when the leather cord snaked through the air and struck across her bare arms. She jumped up with an explosion of foreign cursing and glared at the Domina bearing the whip before dashing to catch up with Isaac. There were still more tents to stack up on the cart before they began dragging it across the steppes to the next camp location.
Sergeant Letitia, the Mechamusume of the Vorona Corps in charge of camp security, possessed the ability to see in the infrared spectrum. This meant that when she had been doing her rounds between the tents of the cadets the night Isaac had been off correcting his “personal problem” she noticed an absence of two heat signatures. That had been enough evidence to sentence Isaac and his pokegirl to the infamous remedial fitness courses, which on top of more strenuous workouts every morning meant the rest of their day was spent hauling all of the equipment used by the academy faculty as well as anything communal to the next campsite.
“Are you tired, little Witch? Maybe you should have kept your tamer in his tent rather than sneaking off after quiet hours. Young cadets need their rest!” The Domina said the words with cruel, delighted sing-song as she artfully lashed out again. Jin ground her teeth and Isaac thought he heard a spark pop as Jin discreetly cast one of her breed’s innate spells. As the Domina strutted off to find her next victim her stiletto heel came down on a patch of grass that had been pulped into a slick mess and the BDSM breed slipped and fell in a heap of limbs, leather, and buckles.
Isaac shook his head so subtly he could really only feel it in response to the satisfaction Jin was doing her best to conceal. The Domina had been out of line, they weren’t supposed to apply further discipline once their target was demonstrating the proper behavior. Jin’s retaliation with the Witch’s Curse had been a far greater violation of the rules. Fortunately for his magic user her breed’s signature spell was practically undetectable to the uninitiated. He gripped the wide, horizontal handle of the cart and leaned his weight into it as he began to step with Jin and start their cross country haul for the day.
-
“Ahn!” Jin cried out, overwhelmed by the intensity of the stimulation. She’d been pulling herself over a rocky cliff edge as the Domina below her, the same Domina from earlier, struck her taught rear. Jin stared daggers down at the gloating poison type. Jin wasn’t disobeying orders, she wasn’t lagging behind, and up until the unwarranted strike she hadn’t been exhibiting defiant behavior.
They were halfway through their two weeks of punishment and currently engaged in early morning exercise. The short steppe cliffs could be walked around, they had been bypassed from the earlier days’ hauling but right now, the more pointless the struggle the better it seemed.
Jin covertly cast Witch’s Curse once again and a Sonica climbing beside them lost her grip and fell on top of the Domina with the grudge against the Witch. The Sonica was mostly unhurt but the disciplinarian breed she fell on top of had to retreat to have the barbed spines removed from where they were stuck all about her chest.
Isaac took a moment to help Jin stand and cast his gaze about for the senior cadet who should be making sure his or her Domina wasn’t abusing her position. No one seemed to be taking responsibility for correcting the pokegirl handing out unjust corrections.
-
“Ngh, fakku!” Jin fell in a heap as she swore. Her tormentor had expertly tripped up the Witch as she had been planting her foot to turn during dead sprints. Jin’s straight black hair was wildly displaced and as she rose she shook her head violently to throw most of the strands away from her eyes that were burning with fury.
“What’s the matter, little Witch,” The Domina crowed as she twirled the cord of her whip around a finger.
Isaac grabbed his pokegirl’s hand to stop her from finishing the Mystic Bolt she’d been channeling. “I’ll handle this,” he told her under his breath. Jin and this particular Domina were engaged in a personal grudge match by this point and Isaac was sick of things falling further and further out of hand. He’d been watching all of the disciplinarians and their pokegirls once the correctional sessions were over and he now knew which of the older cadets was responsible for her.
“Back on the line, cadet!” The Domina struck Isaac across the back, much gentler than she had been striking Jin. Then again, the cadets were more likely to report abuses of power against themselves than their girls. Isaac flinched but kept walking. “Cadet, you’re not done yet!” She swung again but Isaac threw his arm in the way of the whip so it wrapped around and he could grab onto it.
“I know I’m not done, but I need to have a word with your mistress.”
“Wha- no, sir. I’ll stop. I’ll stop hitting your Witch, please don’t tell Mistress.” Isaac pulled her along by the implement she was unwilling to let go of.
This Domina was under the control of a senior girl with floral red hair and aggressive green eyes. She was also overseeing a Dark Elf and had a Dominatrix always by her side. On top of that, she also seemed to be mentoring a couple of other junior ranked disciplinarians. She eyed Isaac evenly as he approached towing the Domina by her tool of pain. “Why aren’t you running, cadet?”
Isaac freed his arm from the cord and looked the older female cadet straight in the eyes. He measured his anger and pulled out just enough of the emotion to give his voice a firm edge. “Your Domina has been striking my pokegirl unjustly every day since we started. My Witch is angry to the point of starting a fight and I don’t want to get into further trouble because your pokegirl is misbehaving. Do something.”
The Domina wilted under the glare of her mistress and that of the Dominatrix beside her. “Marharyta,” the disciplinarian senior addressed her pokegirl, “is this true?”
“Y-yes Mistress.” The Domina cast her eyes away from her tamer. “I… I didn’t like her atti-”
“No excuses!” The tamer cut off her pokegirl at the very same time she placed a backhand across her face. The Domina fell to her knees out of a sense of drama more than injury. “We’ve had this problem before, Marharyta. Cadet, please call your Witch over.” Jin had been watching with interest and was jogging over with growing delight before Isaac even waved to her. The senior cadet placed her boot between Marharyta’s shoulder blades and used it as leverage to push the Domina’s face to the ground. “Apologize.”
“Yes Mistress!” Marharyta was flushed red and panting with want. “I’m sorry, Witch. I was wrong. I betrayed my duty as a disciplinarian. Please forgive me.”
Jin stood over the humbled BDSM girl and made a show of considering things. She looked to the cadet. “Can you make her run with us, ma’am?”
“That sounds like an excellent idea. Marharyta, on the line!” Isaac was impressed by the fetish pokegirl’s ability to sprint and turn in heels. Jin was delighted witnessing all of the times her capability failed and she tripped anyway.
-
Jin’s chest rose with labored effort and then immediately fell with each breath still escaping with a delighted gasp or content moan until her body succumbed to the relaxing cocktail of hormones flooding her veins. “That. Was… wow.” They’d finished their two weeks of suffering and finally had the energy to fully investigate Isaac’s capability to produce human sexual energies.
Isaac was dripping sweat and fell down beside her. “Yeah, Vardan and Candi have been giving me some pointers.”
Jin’s catlike stretch slowly pulled her muscles and tendons to their comfortable limit one way, and then the other. Her groan ended with a squeaked little, ‘ahn.’ “Thank you Vardan and Candi.” She said, sounding almost intoxicated. “And thank you, Master.” She rolled over top of him partially and kissed his chest. Isaac’s eyes went unfocused after he heard the title. “Still don’t like it?”
“Yes- no. I don’t know. I know what it means to you but to me it’s… It’s not your fault.”
Jin settled into a comfortable position to nuzzle against him. “Not your fault either,” she muttered sleepily.
-
“Ostap!” Vardan called out to the freshman cadet approaching where he and Isaac were waiting. The taciturn young man raised a hand to acknowledge the greeting. He was walking with Ivka, his Amazon and the Titodile he’d tamed, now wearing simple athletic shorts modified to accommodate her tail.
There were just over four weeks left before the end of the second trimester and the beginning of the autumn break for the harvest season. Three weeks were to be spent out in the wilderness for the freshman’s first hunt longer than seven days. Squads were self selected because by this point each cadet had a unique collection of goals they needed to fulfill based on their course load.
Isaac, on top of catching ferals, first needed to perform observation of pokegirls in the wild and write a report on how they may come into conflict with humanity. Secondly, he also needed to investigate some ruins and research what materials or items of value would have been salvaged from them in the past. Ostap only needed to make successful captures and he had recruited a friend by the name of Symon with similarly simple goals. They both wanted to target plant and water types in particular. Vardan’s task was logistical and strategic planning without the need to take on a role of active leadership.
This made the region west of Dnipro where they had hunted in the very beginning a decent choice to hit once again. The steppes were open enough to allow for long distance observation and the plundered remains of Kamianske could be easily reached for Isaac’s needs. The river and aspen groves were suitable for finding plant and water types and Ostap also seemed intent at trying his luck for wild Elves from Vershnyk’s court. They were waiting on Symon to arrive and busied themselves with packing supplies for the upcoming trek.
Symon was the same sort of light skinned, light haired, light eyed as so many other native born Sapphire humans, although his hair color was pastel green. He had a pair of Ladyba for pokegirls by the names Ofeliya and Olimpiada. The last introduction that was needed was Ostap sharing that he had christened his Titodile Luba. The former feral recoiled and briefly hissed when she laid eyes on Jin. The Witch recognized the fear in the crocodilian girl and encouraged it by channeling her Shocking Grasp spell in a harmless intimidation display while giggling like a fool. Luba scuttled around behind the arm of her harem sister Ivka. Isaac corrected his rambunctious magic type wearily, they were going to have to work together over the next three weeks and terrorizing allies was not the proper way to cooperate.
It was two full days of hiking across the steppes to reach the Kamianske area with poor hunting due to the openness of the landscape. They made some catches against a few pitiful breeds like Titmice and Pidgy but for the most part they walked and talked. Well, Isaac didn’t talk as much because his social paranoia caused him to clam up in the presence of so many people he wasn’t familiar with. In his mind Ostap and Symon along with his pokegirls were a clique since they’d apparently worked together throughout the past three months. Vardan, having a great deal more social grace was able to adapt and get along with them but that left Isaac even more feeling like the outsider. There was nothing from any of his fellow cadets that was hostile or persecutory but an irrational fear held Isaac’s tongue behind his lips. He listened though and learned that Ostap’s reason for wanting to specifically catch plant types was that if he could send enough girls home to work the fields he would be free to enjoy his upcoming break. Symon was motivated by financial incentives. Ostap’s family weren’t the only farmers who wanted extra hands for the approaching harvest.
-
Isaac tapped the screen of his pokedex device to add notes to the photograph he had just taken of the distant Ponytaur herd. The centaur pokegirls had bedded across the river and since there was little sense in crossing with the hope of catching any the other three cadets were uninterested. Isaac labeled the Rapitaur he thought was the lead mare in the photo, the obviously pregnant pokegirls and those with obvious pokekits, as well as any that were old, ill, or injured. It wasn’t a very large herd, it could have been a single family unit of ferals. The observing human sat up and leaned forward attentively when all of the Ponytaur and the few evolved forms perked up and went on alert. A shadow had crossed over them and they closed together and started watching the sky.
Isaac looked up to see a lone pokegirl with feathered wings turning back around to approach the herd again. She was up high so it was difficult to make out specific details but something about her proportions were unusual. She had a long body and shorter limbs with something peculiar about her hands and feet.
The Ponytaur spooked and began to run. The beating of their hooves drew the attention of the other tamer cadets and their pokegirls. “Mama Maria, that’s a Griffon.” Vardan exclaimed as he watched the hunting aerial girl begin her dive. The Rapitaur leading the herd wheeled around and shot a blast of flame in the path of the attacking flying type causing her to break out off her descent and scream in fury.
“Should we try to catch her?” Symon asked in a very hesitant voice. His hands shook from the adrenaline of merely witnessing the life and death struggle occuring on the other side of the Dnieper river.
“Ha,” Ostap’s laugh was weak and more to emphasize the ridiculous nature of Symon’s question, “and get all of our girls killed? Leave her to our watcher.” He motioned towards Isaac who was capturing the scene via his device's video recording software. The Rapitaur’s second Flamethrower attack was evaded by the Griffon and she hit one of the weaker Ponytaur Isaac had spotted with both fore-talons. The centaur pokegirl appeared to have been crippled or died instantly leaving the rest of her herd to flee further up the steppes. The carcass was carried away by the lion and eagle hybrid pokegirl with nothing but trampled and blood soaked grass left at the scene.
-
The Vasylk farmstead was unrecognizable from the distorted ruin from nearly a year ago. All of the buildings had been razed to reclaim any valuable building materials. Now there were only foundations and piles of rubble slowly being claimed by grass and other quick growing vegetation. The distortions from the spiral arms were still visible to Elena, but she had to point them out to Chandrakanta and Astoreth when the three arrived. The surreal atmosphere with its suppressive and depressive influence along with the hallucinatory experiences were gone.
The celestial and infernal wanted to meet here to make what comparisons they could to what they experienced at the Seychelle islands. The purpose of their meeting was to share the initial results of their investigations. It wasn’t something they had really discussed but all three of them independently decided to look into the events from ten years ago, which Chandrakanta had suspected were related to Isaac.
Elena shared her findings first. “They called them ‘authors.’ They were a group of extra-dimensional humans, presumably. It’s not really known how many were abducted from their home universe, or even if they all came from the same universe or not. The southern goths were the ones who brought them over. Some scheme of theirs.
“That’s all my contact knew for sure, but she heard rumors that they all had supernatural powers. Mental defenses without any blood traits or training.” Elena extended her left index finger and touched its tip with her right. “The ability to identify pokegirls on sight.” Now she had two fingers extended. “And they couldn’t be located with any sort of magic.” She counted off a third point with her ring finger. “I tested this out myself three times. Isaac can’t be located by my spells.”
Astoreth nodded. “My… former teacher was dealing with them as well. At least one in particular based on the records she kept that I could find. Most of her things are kept in secret compartments protected by curses. Paranoid bitch…
“Anyway, he was operating in the Sunshine league, she thought he was cooperating with their government as well as a boatload of Megami. She infiltrated the latter group and killed him after her goals were accomplished. She died shortly afterwards. Seems to have been some of his harem getting vengeance. She also was convinced they had special powers but nothing specific was in the notes I recovered.” Having shared her discoveries as well, the infernal looked to the last of their trio.
“I haven’t found anything about authors, no one could make the time to talk with me.” Chandrakanta pushed her lips together and made a frustrated little noise. “I did discover something unusual though. Something that could be related. An unusually large number of patients, counseling and psychiatry patients, are reporting having dreams that were extremely vivid and intensely frightening a lot of the time. Alien landscapes in a featureless dark world. They all occurred the night we took Isaac to the island for his issue. People all over the world were having the same sort of dream. When I dug a little deeper it turns out that a significant number of these patients had described similar dreams almost a year earlier.” Chandrakanta’s lashes flitted towards a bare foundation that had the concrete and stone chewed into dust by the phenomenon that destroyed the Vasylk compound.
“That is,” Elena paused to choose a word besides ‘disturbing,’ “interesting. We need more concrete information. More reliable means of identifying if Isaac is one of these authors. If he is one, why did he appear here, now, rather than ten years ago with all of the rest. Are the skanks still involved? What about other prima-donnas like Star’s teacher? My contact made it clear she shared more than she should have already and isn’t willing to tell me any more. Star, do you think we could crack any of those cursed safes you mentioned if we worked together?”
The infernal stroked her jaw underneath the temporal process, the connection point for muscles in front of the ear. “Probably. There might not be anything more though. She did most of her scheming in her head.”
“We don’t have anything else to go on at this point. Candi, you might have to be a little more aggressive with your fact finding.”
The Megami shifted uncomfortably. “I hate subterfuge. It feels too much like lying.”
“Candi, it’s for Isaac.”
The celestial sighed, stretching to her full height on the breath leading to the gesture and then deflating dramatically as she let the air out. “I didn’t say I wouldn’t do it. Urgh…” She straightened up and focused on her two friends one at a time. Her eyes were clearly open and hard set. “This is dangerous stuff though. We should be staying closer to Isaac. At least one of us, to keep an eye on him.”
“Without disagreeing with you,” Elena began, “it will be difficult to do. The Vorona Corps won’t want us interfering with their program, it’s still the best way to get Isaac a workable identity in the leagues, and we already have our own obligations. I’m teaching at the ranch and evaluating prospective students. Star has her advocate work and her obligations to her wards. You have teaching in Crescent Moon and…” Elena knew there were more projects the Megami was involved in; she just didn’t know specifically what. Elena wasn’t sure Chandrakanta knew what projects she was contributing towards herself.
Chandrakanta’s lashes lifted upward as she thought, “Teaching the girls in Crescent Moon, dowsing and digging wells in Blood, there’s a barn that burned down in Mountain we still need to find more lumber to replace…”
-
Something was obviously different as soon as Isaac saw Vardan open the door to his yurt. The open and welcoming confidence was lacking in the affect of the charming quasi-noble bastard. There was no ritualistic greeting with a kiss on both cheeks. Every action was restrained compared to what Isaac had come to expect. Isaac’s mind immediately started racing through all of their recent interactions to try to determine what he had done to make Vardan upset with him like this. “Oh, Isaac. Come on in,” Vardan said absentmindedly. He didn’t even acknowledge that Jin was with Isaac as always.
Vardan sat down on the lounging cushions and Isaac sat down so he could lean the back of his head against the crook of Vardan’s shoulder. Jin took her place leaning into Isaac the same way Isaac leaned against the older cadet. Vardan moved like he was surprised and let out two short, pained chuckles. “Is something wrong,” Isaac asked.
“Andreea…” Vardan started and then paused to think on his word choice more. “I do trust her judgement so… She pointed out…” The Pumara padded over and put a reassuring hand on her younger tamer’s shoulder. Vardan started his sentence over entirely.
“I think we should break things off a little early, Isaac. It’s… I’ve never actually had one of these flings go on for this long. I’ve been having a lot of fun but,” he used the hand opposite Isaac to push his hair back in a nervous habit. “Andreea’s been watching us and she thinks things are becoming too ‘real,’ if that makes sense.”
Isaac’s thoughts were swimming in the panic of losing something that made him feel secure, in this case his youthful summer romance with Vardan. It couldn’t make sense because too much of his mind was being subsumed by emotion. He didn’t respond beyond sitting upright so he could focus on Vardan’s face as the junior cadet continued speaking. “You sort of fell into this adoring puppy love and I’ve been almost getting drunk off of it. But we agreed this wasn’t going to last, right? Well, if we go all the way to the end like this… it’s going to be even worse than if we stop now, right?”
It was correct that they had agreed this wouldn’t be a lasting relationship. It was correct that Isaac hadn’t been paying attention to his own feelings. It was probably correct that breaking up now would be less difficult. “R-right.” Isaac didn’t have a face in the lavish yurt that wasn’t focused on him with an expression of concern and it ate at him. He moved to stand up. “I… I guess I should go?”
Vardan rose with him and extended a hand. “I guess. I’m still here, to help. As a friend. No hard feelings?”
“No hard feelings.” Isaac mumbled as he took the hand to shake. It wasn't true. The feelings filling Isaac's heart were still very difficult to endure. Vardan held the door open for him and Isaac quickly walked across the camp to his own tent. He hated the idea of anyone seeing him this upset and vulnerable. He wanted; part of his psyche needed to find somewhere to hide, somewhere to satisfy his overwhelming urge to withdraw.
“I’m sorry Isaac!” Jin’s voice was unsteady like she was about to begin crying.
“...why?” He asked with a completely flat tone and fishlike expression.
“I pushed you into this. You weren’t sure and now you were right but I was so excited about you being romantic with another guy-”
“It’s not your fault, Jin.” Isaac’s voice collapsed just the same as he did upon their shared bedroll.
Jin threw herself down behind his back and clutched his shirt in both hands. Her voice was muffled and cracking and desperate for him to understand. “Not yours either.”
-
“What’s going on with your boyfriend, Paza? He spoiled the hunt all day. He was out of position, his Witch was out of position, you were sending your girls out of position to cover for him. He’s completely off his game and going to get someone hurt!”
Vardan sighed to release the annoyance and anger Ostap’s accusatory tone elicited. “I broke things off last night. Give him some time, please.”
“Oh, that’s great. He can have his time and I’ll just go pick potatoes for the next six weeks. We’re out here to catch ferals, Paza. Not this stupid drama. What the hell is the point when you’ve both got pokegirls? You’re even engaged. Fucking stupid.”
Vardan ran his palms over his scalp to push his hair back as he fought not to audibly growl. “Yes, I was stupid. And I hurt him. Just lay off of him, okay?”
The younger cadet glared angrily for a few seconds longer. “Fine. I won’t say anything to Markiyan. You fix it.”
Vardan wanted to yell back that he would if he could, along with throwing a hook aimed for Ostap’s smug, self-centered face, but he didn’t. It wouldn’t be proper. Symon jogged over to them with his Ladyba on each flank. They were all excited. “Olya saw, well, she was either a dragon type or the biggest Zubutt ever. She was dark blue so we lost her against the clouds but she looked like she was scoping out the camp.”
“I am not a Zubutt.” Three humans and six pokegirls spun at the same time to face the speaker. “Nor am I a dragon type,” she added with a sinister sort of amusement. She had a low voice with crisp and precise annunciation and a low rumbling undertone that reminded Vardan of Andreea when he got her purring.
The infernal pokegirl was huge and dressed in formal business attire. Her black hair was tightly pulled back without a strand obscuring her face. She exuded menace and authority and none of the young men dared reach for their pokedexes to scan her in case the gesture was perceived as threatening. The faint glow of twilight was reflected off of her golden irises that appeared to be glowing against the black sclera of her eyes. Eyes studying each of them with an air of disdain and dismissal. “Good evening, gentlemen. I’m looking for Isaac Markiyan. Would he happen to be a part of your group?”
Vardan lifted a hand to point towards the subject of her inquiry’s tent. Isaac had been inside since the moment they got back from their hunt. As he stood dumbly with his arm outstretched another airborne figure dropped from the sky. It was two more pokegirls, riding on what appeared to be a broomstick until Vardan noticed the lack of bristles. One was a tall Elf breed with a more slender figure than Elfqueens he’d met and medium-short blonde, straight hair. The other was an unnaturally tall and large breasted human looking breed from the Central East regions of Asia. Vardan blinked as he recognized the exotic Megami from when she had delivered a message from his father earlier that summer.
The celestial pokegirl bounded with impossible grace towards Isaac’s tent while the sylvan pokegirl moved up beside the strange infernal. “Candi is beating you to Isaac again.” The massive blue skinned pokegirl withheld an obscenity and gave chase.
Vardan finally assembled a suitable string of words to convey his disbelief. “I’m sorry, how do you three know Isaac?”
The Elf type bowed her head apologetically. “I am his legal guardian, up until a few hours from now anyway. Elena Hrandelf Vrach. My passenger was Chandrakanta Mehami Paza and the infernal you met is Astoreth. Just Astoreth. We have a vested interest in Isaac’s well-being, I suppose you could say.”
“A few hours?”
“When the league recognizes he’s sixteen.” Understanding clicked and then a further, unpleasant realization that Vardan had broken up with Isaac less than two days away from his birthday. Isaac had mentioned knowing some older pokegirls but failed to mention anything specific. Beneath the shock though Vardan was glad the freshman cadet had more than only Jin and himself.
“That lucky bastard.” Symon mumbled. “How come you’re over here talking to us?”
Elena’s answering smile was mysterious and meant to convey understanding more than joy. “Well, unlike those other two I have to show a bit more restraint. I became a pokewoman just recently and wouldn’t want Isaac to be burdened with a responsibility he’s not ready for.” Vardan wouldn’t have been able to stop himself from laughing if he hadn’t been so depressed before this encounter started; seeing Ostap and Symon scamper away. He quickly ducked into his yurt so Elena turned to make sure Isaac didn’t need to be saved from her less inhibited friends.
“Elena, right?” The upperclassman’s voice called out from the doorway of his shelter. The Grandelf turned to see what he wanted from her and quickly saw he intended to toss something her way. She easily plucked the string of condom packets out of the air. “Take care of him.”
(-[|]-) End 4.3 (-[|]-)
Jin was helping Elena and Astoreth set up a larger camping shelter belonging to the infernal so they’d have greater privacy away from the other cadets. Isaac was still holed up in his own yurt. Chandrakanta was with him and had him sitting in her lap, head leaning against her bosom and with her nuzzling his crown. She was as silent as he was. Minutes dragged by as she felt his warring emotions and tried to offer as much tangible comfort as possible.
Finally he spoke. “Am I weak? A weak person?”
She first hummed thoughtfully, as if to herself. The vibrations of her voice resonated through her lips and where he rested against her chest. The sound was gentle and could have been a quiet note played on a reeded woodwind. “I don’t think you are.”